


The Snow It Melts The Soonest

by Wldwmn



Series: Fortunes of War [2]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, Everyone needs a Newt, F/M, Future Fic, Newt sings and makes it better, Period-Typical Sexism, Pregnancy, Songfic, Tina is super upset, married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 05:20:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9108229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wldwmn/pseuds/Wldwmn
Summary: A child on the way can be a scary thing, especially with a war raging around you. Follows "Carelessness", but can stand alone.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I have 3 unfinished Newtina fics, and yet this came to me almost complete. I'm firmly of the opinion that I should finish and post what I can, so here it is! This vignette does come after my piece "Carelessness" and makes a tiny reference to it, but it should be totally possible to follow without reading that one first.

They had argued, though it wasn’t really Newt’s fault. Tina could admit that now, at least in the privacy of her own mind. She stroked absently over her rounded belly and sighed.

 

Of course, she countered internally, _aspects_ of it were his fault. Her present… condition was certainly precipitated by him. But she wasn’t angry at anything he did. She was angry in general, and very hurt, and it had boiled over.

 

She would probably need to apologize. Damn it.

 

The meeting with her fellow aurors that morning had been awful. She was taking herself off active duty at a terrible time; attacks and violence in Grindelwald’s war were becoming more frequent each day. The failed attempt on Newt’s life earlier in the year hadn’t been the only close call they’d had personally, though it was the worst. But now that Tina was unmistakably and heavily pregnant, physical fighting was no longer something she was prepared to continue. She thought this would be easily accepted and understood.

 

Instead she received undisguised looks of contempt in almost every pair of eyes at the table. Trelaine (another woman and mother) was sympathetic, and MacIntyre, a man she’d gone through auror training with and trusted implicitly, nodded and agreed it was the only safe course of action for her to take. But there was an unvoiced but clear undercurrent in her superiors’ statements that perhaps women shouldn’t even be aurors, after all, if they were just going to desert in order to have children.

 

Naturally, she was in a foul mood when she returned home, and seeing the wreckage of the apartment after the most recent niffler escape had been the last straw. Tina had drawn in a deep breath, and let it out in a resounding yell that carried all the way into the depths of Newt’s open suitcase. He scrambled up the ladder only a moment later, to be met with further yells and pointed questions along the lines of “You couldn’t tidy up after that little escape artist? Or did you just expect **me** to do it because I’m your **wife**?”

 

She knew that last barb had been unfair; Newt had never treated her as less than his equal in any sense, and certainly he didn’t assume that all housekeeping duties would magically transfer to her regardless of who _made_ the mess. But she was so overwhelmed with the lack of compassion at the Ministry that her frustration poured out into every syllable.

 

She’d closed her mouth with an audible snap after a last stream of furious remarks, strode into their bedroom, and slammed the door behind her. Now she was sitting on their bed, brooding.

 

She **did** need to apologize. Damn and blast again.

 

Dimly, she began to hear the first gentle notes of a guitar being tuned. A tiny smile came to her lips; Newt hadn’t played for her in a long time. They’d both been too tired and stressed, but she had missed it. She hadn’t realized how **much** she’d missed it. Now she strained to listen as he started to sing.

 

_O, the snow it melts the soonest when the wind begins to sing;_

_And the corn it ripens fastest when the frosts are setting in;_

_And when a woman tells me that my face she'll soon forget,_

_I’ll wager you a Galleon, she's sure to follow me yet._

 

Tina felt her smile widen despite her mood. Newt had a clear and pleasant voice, but this was a song she’d never heard him play before.

 

_The snow it melts the soonest when the wind begins to sing;_

_And the swallow skims without a thought as long as it is spring;_

_But when spring goes, and winter blows, my lass, you’re sure to be,_

_For all your pride, bound to my side, were it ‘cross the stormy sea._

 

Her eyebrows just about reached her hairline. Somebody was certainly feeling full of himself this afternoon. Still, she couldn’t be angry; after all, hadn’t she crossed an ocean and followed him here to England? She quieted her thoughts in order to make sure she didn’t miss the next verse.

 

_O, the snow it melts the soonest when the wind begins to sing;_

_The bee that flew when summer shined, in winter cannot sting;_

_I've seen a woman's anger melt between the night and morn,_

_And it's surely not a harder thing to tame a woman's scorn._

 

Tina nodded in understanding. So this was a peace offering, after all. She was hardly surprised, seeing as she’d always been the hot-tempered one of the pair of them. Newt did a lot of “smoothing ruffled feathers”, and not just for the creatures in his case. She stood and walked to the bedroom door, before opening it and moving back towards the living room. She leaned against one side of the doorway and watched him. Newt’s eyes rose to meet hers, and a smile was already on his lips as he sang the final verse.

 

_O, never say me farewell here - no farewell I'll receive,_

_For you shall set me on my way, and kiss and take your leave;_

_But I'll stay here till the rooster crows, and the fwooper takes its wing,_

_Since the snow it melts the soonest, love, when the wind begins to sing._

 

“Pretty confident, aren’t we Mr. Scamander?” Tina said softly after the last notes faded.

 

“Haven’t I reason to be?” he replied, as he placed the guitar gently on the floor beside his feet. “A world-renowned magizoologist, who has traveled and studied magical creatures on almost every continent on the planet?” He laughed a little to himself then, so she couldn’t believe he was simply bragging. He continued, “But you know, it was North America where I met the wildest and most magical creature of all.”

 

Tina huffed at the corniness of the statement, yet she still couldn’t stop smiling. “Is that so?” she asked, and at his nod went on, “And did you tame it?”

 

“Her,” Newt corrected, “And no, I did not. The wildest things in the world don’t need taming, my dear. They need kindness and understanding. And most of all, respect.”

 

Her smile faded then. There was suddenly a lump in her throat, hard as a marble, and her eyes went very bright. He looked up at her, tilted his head slightly, and patted the place next to him on the sofa without a word. She padded softly over to him and sat, and his arm went around her shoulders. “Are you ready to tell me what’s really wrong, sweetheart?” he whispered, and all the tears she’d held back for hours overflowed.

 

Tina told him, in a voice that never shook but still made her sorrow plain, about the events of the meeting. How betrayed she felt by most of her coworkers; how dismissive they had been about her decision, as if it hadn’t been one of the most difficult ones she’d ever had to make. Newt was generally silent, but his arm around her shoulder tightened at parts, and his other hand moved to hold one of hers.

 

“Do you think they’re right, Newt?” she finally asked. “Do you think I’m being selfish and deserting my post? Did I… did I make the right decision to take myself off active duty?”

 

“Tina, if you made it then I **know** it was the right decision. I have absolute faith in you,” he answered immediately.

 

She turned and pulled him tightly into her arms. “I love you,” she said fiercely. “I love our child. At this point, if that’s selfish then I’m selfish. When I became an auror, I signed up to put myself in harm’s way, yes. But our baby-“

 

“Didn’t,” he finished as he settled against her and stroked her hair. “And I know that. And as active and strong and clever as you are, I know you’re also tired and in pain and coping with physical changes. I think you are right to step down, even temporarily.”

 

“You never said anything,” she murmured against his neck. “You never asked me to stop.”

 

“Of course not,” he said with a soft chuckle. “Try to tell you what to do? I know better than that by now, surely.”

 

Tina laughed, but sobered almost immediately. “We’re bringing this baby into a hard world, Newt. A world of war and pain… and no end in sight.”

 

“Nobody is truly born into an ‘easy’ time, Tina,” he replied. “Our baby is being born into love, which is all anybody can promise to give.” She couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

 

“Anyway, this world will become a better place because our child is in it. You and I will make sure of that.” He settled her more comfortably into his arms, and they watched the light fade as the sun slowly sank beyond the horizon.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm very conflicted about the coming new year, and am finding it hard to be as hopeful as I'd prefer to be. I think a little of that worked its way into this. Hopefully some of Newt's positivity will rub off on me... and anyone else who needs it.
> 
> FYI, "The Snow It Melts The Soonest" is a traditional English song, with the original lyrics first set down in the 1820s. I, uh, took a few liberties with them to make it into a song that a wizard like Newt might know and sing. :)


End file.
